Hi All!
First the intro: My name is Brandy. I have been lurking and learning from you ladies for a while. Thanks for all your past posts and wisdom you've shared so far.
I am a 32 yo mom to a 10yo ds and an 11mo dd. I have been happily married since June of this year.
Now for the validation:
I am 5ft4 and weigh 140.
I am fairly inactive except for housework, and waitressing 4 to 7 hrs a day, 5 days a week.
Calorie wise I have been consuming 1400 a day.
I've done every calculator I can find and I still keep second guessing myself. Is this a good level for me?
I do plan on trying the 30 day shred starting tomorrow for 30 days straight to get myself an exercise habit going.
Oh and Im not sure of a goal other than 132 which is my lowest weight since the age of 12. It is also the weight I had reached 2 mos before I got pregnant with my 11 mo dd!
I would like to get to 120 and reevaluate once I get there.
Thanks! It's been wonderful reading your successes, struggles and wisdom. I'm glad I finally got off my bum to say hi and join you
Brandy

1400 is not a bad starting point. Definitely no less and if this does not work, you could easily add another 100 calories. You are probably not as inactive as you think since you are a waitress. You would definitely benefit from getting a pedometer and wearing that especially when you are at work.

132 is a good first goal. I am 5'6" and my ultimate goal is 139. One thing that I have found is that the older you less likely you are to get back those high school weights that we fondly remember. So choose something reasonable and re-evaluate when you get there.

Welcome and best wishes

I agree that 1400 could be ok, and I wouldn't go lower. If you are going to add significant exercise, you could start higher. You can always adjust. But your body adjusts your metabolism down when you eat less, and up when you eat more. You can obviously overwhelm that feedback by eating way too little and starving to death, or eating too much and gaining, but it's definitely worth eating as much as you can lose weight on.

If the 30DS makes you sore, don't be surprised if the scale stays the same or even goes up the first week. Sore muscles can retain water, but you're still losing fat! It will start dropping again .

Thanks for the advice ladies!
My goal of 132 actually is my prepregnancy weight. But, I reached 132 2 months prior to becoming pregnant. I had not been that weight since probably 3rd or 4th grade. So I really have no clue what my body will look like once I lose beyond that. Trial and error I guess

I can tell you from experience:

One amazing thing about losing weight is that because we incorporate exercise into our routines as well as counting calories, we tend to get more slender though we weigh more.

Through High School I was not very athletic/active and generally weighed 135/140 and was a size 12.

A few years back, after spending a year counting calories and exercising regularly, I got down to 160 and fit happily into size 10 pants and dresses.

It's a long and tragic story as to how and why I gained it back, but I WILL get there again and stay there!

Part of that is that sizing changes over time. But the exercise definitely makes a difference.

When I was ~20, I weighed ~120 and wore a size 8.
When I was ~30, I weighed ~130 and wore a size 8.
Now I'm almost 40, and it's looking like when I reach ~140, I'll wear a size 8.